h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But what else could justify sixty years of sustained critical ire -- because it cannot be dismissed. And it is worth reading (or, having had read it ), even if it feels like being lost in a blizzard. Coming across a passage of sense, getting the joke, the reference, (the point, damnit!)... it is a window of clarity on a chaotic world. It is not a book that can teach you things, though (Eco is a positive Open University of didacticism). The more you know the better it is, this Night Book to Ulysses' Day.

I think it's silly to think of Ulysses in terms of the Wake or vice versa: they're two completely different works. And I disagree with the notion (so highly touted by Anthony Burgess and others) that the Wake is meant to be Ulysses's day. While Ulysses is deep, the Wake is simply incomparable, and thus shouldn't be compared.

I'm a bit biased. If you knew me, you'd know how obsessed I am with the Wake. I simply love the idea of complexity... in music, art and, well, everything. Literature, most certainly, of course.

But it's just unfair to the Wake to reduce it in terms of Ulysses. They are on two completely different levels.

On another note, I thought this Entry was meant to be a joke. The misspellings seemed intentional, as in the Wake. (Of course, in the Wake, spelling "errors" add layers and layers of meaning, whereas this entry is just idiocy.)

A excellent book to aid anyone willing to trudge through the Wake as Joyce intended is Structure and Motif in Finnegans Wake. Once you open your mind to some of its basic structures, things become clear with astonishing rapidity. Though i'm not saying you'll actually be able to READ it...

Finnegans Wake? It's gotta be worth a try. So now I'm reading it.
I suppose 'reading' is the wrong word really. What I'm really doing is inhaling text.